Archibald Hanley Draake is my name, but most everyone calls me Arc. I like it a lot better than my real, given name. I am 10 years old.

I live with my family in Hollywood, California. We moved here when I was six. Mom has grand dreams that I will be a star, so she enrolled me in all sorts of classes: voice. Dance. Acting. Drama. You name it, and I have been doing it.

I want to be an actor, but I also want to be a normal ten-year-old boy: play with my friends. Veg out on the weekends. Go to sporting events or fairs. Go swimming. I get to do that, but not nearly as often as I would like. Too busy taking classes on "how to be a star" and going from one audition to the other.

Seems my life is a series of auditions and/or callbacks ...

It's a pain sometimes, but necessary if one wants to become famous.

I was born in Avalon, New Jersey, and we lived there until I was six. That was when the acting bug started in earnest (mostly at mom's expense). I have, besides my mom and dad, my dog "Sharon" (named after Sharon Osbourne, of course), as well as my sister Britney (she's nine, one year younger than me), and our little brother, Mac (short for Macaulay; he's four); as you can see, my brother and sister were named after stars, too: Britney Spears the singer/actresss, and Macaulay after the kid star made famous from his "Home Alone" series of movies.

I am in the fourth grade. I am tutored. I am too busy auditioning for one thing or another to be able to go to a regular school like other kids, but I have made some good friends that I met at different auditions and stuff. My best friend is named Jet. He is nine, the same age as Britney. He's cool. And he's rich. He has a room to die for: it is loaded with toys and fancy games and stuff; his room makes mine look like a first-class dump.

Jet has been acting/singing/dancing since he could walk; he's been in several local television ads and in some local magazines, so to me he's famous. He is shooting to try for a movie role around Christmas; that is his goal. I haven't thought about auditioning for a movie: right now trying to land a commercial spot or get a chance to sing on television has been my life lately. So far, nothing, but the callbacks do give me some hope, only to be told later that I didn't "quite have the stuff", whatever that means. That's a pain!

Well, I'd best try to get some sleep. Have an audition later today; am trying out for a show similar to Star Search, which was this big talent hunt that ran in the 1980's-1990's. Wish me luck; pray I make it! I would really like to prove that I can do it all: sing! Dance! Act! Thanks in advance!

5,800 stories so far huh? Karen, with out a doubt, you are the very best short, short storywriter on Authors Den. Day after day you are able to churn out characters that we believe actually live and breath and situations that we can actually see and believe. Great talent my friend from Texas. It is my honor to know you. Oh, and Arc's story, another young boy that I can believe actually lives In Hollywood in Southern California.
Your, in awe of you, friend from Southern California; Mark

What I don't lke: Mom living her dreams through her son, by enrolling him in all sorts of acting/modeling/acting classes. What I love: Mark wanting to be a 'normal' ten year old boy. If Mark wants to do this, fine. Feed his dreams. But don't force the kid into it! Now you know why I don't care for most child actors or singers. And pageant kids? Fergit about it. Hope Mark wins out. Well done, Karen.